A critical review on the contributions of chemical and physical factors toward the nucleation and growth of large-area graphene

Since the first isolation of graphene over a decade ago, research into graphene has exponentially increased due to its excellent electrical, optical, mechanical and chemical properties. Graphene has been shown to enhance the performance of various electronic devices. In addition, graphene can be simply produced through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Although the synthesis of graphene has been widely researched, especially for CVD growth method, the lack of understanding on various synthetic parameters still limits the fabrication of large-area and defect-free graphene films. This report critically reviews various parameters affecting the quality of CVD-grown graphene to understand the relationship between these parameters and the choice of metal substrates and to provide a point of reference for future studies of large-area, CVD-grown graphene.